Tips/Recipes For Preparing Meals For the Week?

Hey you guys. I'm currently a college student trying to improve my eating habits. I am usually consistent when it comes to eating healthy and usually prepare a few meals ahead of time, but I tend to stray away during times of extreme stress, specifically when I have multiple exams in one week to study for . Do any of you guys have any helpful suggestions when it comes to preparing food for the week. Would you suggest buying like 14 or 21 sets of tupperware to use for the week (2X/3X a day)? Do you freeze or refrigerate all your prepared meals? Do you prepare meals every week or every other week?

Also do you know any good recipes that are hearty and protein packed that can be made in bulk( I'm not trying to lose weight, but rather build muscle mass) ? I'm also wondering, are there any recipes that are good for freezing that won't lose its nutritional value? I'm afraid if I freeze some meals for future use that it will be ruined somehow when I try to thaw it and be mushy.

Every day I have a different can of Campbell's Chunky soup with 1/2 cup of brown rice and 1/2 cup of lentils. The brown rice and lentils are cooked separately and then I put 1/2 cup of each in a 1 cup Ziploc plastic bowl and freeze it. The day before I use it I take it out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge. The brown rice is cooked with all sorts of stuff; hot Mexican tomato sauce, wine, turmeric, and various other spices. Lately I've been cooking in the microwave some frozen broccoli or Brussels sprouts which are mixed in with the soup. And quinoa bran, nutritional yeast, and a pinch of dulse seaweed flakes. And maybe a big squirt of Sriracha sauce. Kind of a witch's brew.

Erik101 saidApologies but those photos look like the same meals on a daily basis. That's gotta be boring for the palate! Sorry OP, not much help here. Good luck with your nutrition goals.

It's all relative. I eat for nutrition mostly. And so do many other fitness minded people. But there's nothing preventing you or anyone else from being more creative with preparing nutritious meals that are tasty. Bon appétit.

Not my pics, but here are some examples that might give you ideas/inspiration..

Apologies but those photos look like the same meals on a daily basis. That's gotta be boring for the palate! Sorry OP, not much help here. Good luck with your nutrition goals.

Thanks for your input everyone. Overall,I'm not too worried about it being bland and monotonous. I just need a regular consistent meal. If ever, I can always try changing the recipe on a weekly basis or I'm sure I can make two recipes for the week.

Exactly my thoughts. It's definitely not worth the price, given its lack of quality and diversity.

@woodsmen Are you referring to the section where you just grab a container and pick foods they have or like a frozen meals section? I rarely shop at whole foods, so I'm not really sure of what you're referring to.

Who says you have to eat the same thing every night? Just doctor it into different meals. Behold - my chicken stew, bulk cooked plain and frozen:

Bulk cooked it comes out to $1.25 per meal (I get chicken breast on sale for $1.99/lb) for a container of chicken breast, brown rice (or quinoa), black beans, lentils, various root vegetables and spinach leaves. Frozen into about 50 individual meals.

Dice (also if you're inclined, brine in kosher salt and rinse, then pound beforehand) chicken breast. Slow cook everything together for several hours and all the root vegetables develop the taste and texture of potatoes, so if you like chicken and potatoes you'll love this. Portion off as individual meals with or without the brown rice or quinoa into freezer bags or Tupperware and freeze. Relatively unspiced, use it as a base as chicken stew, add cumin and chile pepper and put in an Ezekiel wrap and top with plain yogurt and salsa for burritos, add broth to make hearty chicken soup, add with Thai sauce and and unsweetened canned chunk pineapple to asian noodles, spread hot on a spelt roll as a sloppy joe or cold as a chicken salad, or add a Tasty Bite brand flavoring packet with a sliced banana and raisins for Indian.

Because of all the training I do, I haven't got a long time to cook so I prefer either roasting lots of vegetables and quorn sausages/burgers/other meats (I'm vegetarian), or making curries and chillis help. Quite a lot of one pot meals work - there's a Quorn sausasge Spanish style casserole I'm particularly fond of and that lasts a few days. No I don't work for Quorn!!

Some people have mentioned refrigerating the cooked meals. I've had problems with meat going bad in the fridge (got lost behind something in the fridge) so I prefer to freeze things. That way if something gets lost in there it gets freezer burn at worse.